Commission probes miracle claim in Polish church

Warsaw, Poland - A Catholic Church commission was investigating claims of a miracle at a church in Sokolka, eastern Poland, after a local priest said holy communion bread had turned into red liquid, Polish Radio reported Monday. The commission from a nearby diocese in Bialystok was looking into the claims after medical tests showed the red liquid contained human heart tissue.

Church-goers claim the "miracle" occurred during mass when a priest accidentally dropped some communion bread during a service. The host was put in a chalice and several days later turned into red liquid.

Doctors examined the liquid and determined it contained pieces of the human heart at the point of death, Polish Radio reported.

"We have to be morally certain that no one had placed the host on the floor before or had changed it ... and that all the witnesses speak the truth," Andrzej Debski, spokesman for the Bialystok curia, told Polish Radio.

The Polish Rationalists Society wants prosecutors to establish the identity of the heart tissue to rule out murder, Polish Radio said.